Travel data company ForwardKeys expects the recovery in global business travel to overtake leisure in July.
The company tracks flight ticketing data covering the globe, from online bookings to travel agencies and airlines.
Olivier Ponti, insights vice-president at ForwardKeys, said: “Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, business travel flight bookings have been slower to recover than leisure, and currently still are.
“However, that situation now looks likely to change.
“We are seeing that the trend is set to reverse in July, with the recovery in business travel overtaking the recovery in leisure – as business flight bookings are 14% behind pre-pandemic (2019) levels and leisure are 16% behind.
“Furthermore, the gap will probably widen in the autumn, as business bookings for September are just 1% behind 2019, whereas leisure are 8% behind.
“It is conceivable the trend of leisure leading the recovery could continue if there is a late surge in summer holiday bookings; but the rise in inflation, including the price of hospitality and airline tickets, makes that unlikely.”